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Saturday, April 14, 2012

This was a fun and delicious soup! Awhile back Shawn and I decided to eat 3 vegan meals a week. That's it, just three, in an effort to be healthier. This has forced me to, once again, be creative and broaden my knowledge base in the kitchen.

Tonight's epicurean delight was this soup. I used surprisingly few ingredients, most of them on a whim.

I also added in walnuts blanched and pureed. I really liked it with them, Shawn preferred it without (more of a texture thing with him I think). So feel free to simply skip that portion of the recipe.

Ingredients

Asparagus (a 1 pound bundle)

1 can Thai Kitchen Organic Coconut Milk

2 teaspoons diced roasted garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Fresh Mint (about 3 sprigs)

{optional} 1/2 cup walnuts (blanched and pureed)

Step 1:
Wash and cut up your asparagus into 1 inch chunks.

Note: I discarded the last two rows on the right in the picture below. They tend to be too tough and fibrous in this type of soup.

Step 2:
Place the asparagus, and the garlic into about 1 and 1/2 cups salted boiling water and boil until tender. This takes about 15 minutes.

Step 3:
Strain out the asparagus keeping the water aside for use. You will need 1 cup of it.

Step 4:
Blend the asparagus in your food processor with the sprigs of fresh mint and the olive oil.

Step 5:
Return the asparagus to the pan. Add in 1 cup of the liquid you saved. Add in the coconut milk and then the salt. Stir and bring to a boil.

Step 6: Optional
A lot of my meals seem to take on an "Iron Chef" secret ingredient. This was tonight's. Wash, blanch, and puree about 1/2 cup walnuts in your food processor. Get it as fine as you can. I loved this addition but Shawn did not. You can leave this out and still have a great soup. Add this to the pan before bringing it to a boil in step 5.